Processes for manufacturing sweets, including those known as gummy snacks (hereinafter the term gummy snacks also refers to gelatin gummies), are known in the food industry; however, none of the existing procedures allow for the production of three-dimensional gummy snacks in which all of their sides are configured.
Likewise, the majority of the conventional processes use starch beds as molds that are stamped to form cavities with the shapes of the gummy snacks that are desired; nevertheless, these shapes are not perfect because the material used does not allow any detail in the formation of the cavities. Once stamped, these starch beds are filled with hot syrups made with water, sugar, glucose or fructose, gelatin, flavoring agents, dyes and preservatives. After filling, the beds are placed in refrigeration chambers or freezers to harden. The gummy snacks are then removed from the molds and must undergo a cleaning procedure to remove the starch that has adhered to them.
There are processes for producing gummy snacks in which molds made of polycarbonate or plastic derivatives are used instead of starch beds; however, they are used on the market infrequently due to their high costs and it is not possible to obtain three-dimensional gummy snacks with a controlled configuration of all sides.
Therefore, there is a need to develop an efficient technology to produce gummy snacks that eliminates the disadvantages of the known procedures and furthermore makes it possible to obtain three-dimensional gummy snacks with a configuration of all sides.